Philadelphia Five's EP "Heaven" has been reviewed on three different occasions in this magazine. A world record! In Fabiola issue 28, on p.50 Jan Landuyt wrote "...if they continue to work in the lines of what can be on 'Heaven', they definitely deserve the same recognition as Front 242". In the same issue, on p.48 me personally predicted : "...'Heaven' should be able to raise the star of this duo from Hertsel even more". And finally, in Fabiola issue 29, p.57 Michel Will made the judgement : "You can only dance or vomit, nonetheless there's a place reserved in 'Heaven' for everybody". And indeed, all three of us were right.
More to the point : Mark Borgions (21, graphical student) and Jo Lijnen (28, psychologist) magically create undeniably efficient Belgian Beats using all sorts of digital instruments. Breathtaking club hits, which will have you get footloose even in private. This twosome knows the art of taking the most creamy ingredients of a plentyful of genres (electropop, house, hip hop, new beat) and skim it off to a strongly concentrated delight. Up until now, mostly people in the U.S.A. seem to appreciate this quite well. On plenty of American DJ's play-list Philadelphia Five takes a top position.
Now for the necessary bio-interlude. Four years ago Jo Lijnen was part of a band for special occasions called V.E.R. (stands for Alliance of Loners and Predators !), which, during parties, presented its audience with covers of songs by The Scabs, Heaven 17 and Cabaret Voltaire. On one of those parties, during the Summer of 1984, Jo got to know the then 16 year old Mark Borgions and not much later Philadelphia Five came into existence. A guitarist came and went, a second one did the same, a female singer dito and eventually Jo and Mark realised they were destined to stay a duo. In the meanwhile Philadelphia Five had been mentioned as most promising electro-band of Belgium and Holland by the audio cassette magazine "Mad In Belgium". Followed by : a record deal with the brand new label KK Records, the more than just good debut 12-inch "Bump !" and the succulent successor "Heaven", which both stormed the American dance charts like a blazing fire. Future : a European tour in February 1989 and - if there's still some justice left - their international break-through.
Gentlemen, some juicy stories please !
Jo Lijnen : "Philadelphia is, like you'll most probably know, a city in the United States. Well, in the fairly flat landscape five small hills can be noticed, of which two have very little stuff built on them. According to tradition those two almost empty spots were bewitched. And here it comes : we use five instruments and the band is composed of two musicians, which people should better avoid getting in touch with, hahaha !"
"By the way, do you know where we got the inspiration for the song Bonga Walk ? From a documentary about a South Sicilian village, where every year a party is held, with as top of the bill a competition for young men, who try to bang in a heavy metal door of a warehouse. Anyone who succeeds in doing that, gets to be champion and enjoys several privileges for a whole year. The rhythm of Bonga Walk is based on the heroic acts of these Sicilian headbangers !"
Mark Borgions : "To conclude I can inform you that the speeches in Heaven actually have less to do with sex than you think. All of those were (also) taken from a documentary, which was realised by Diane Keaton and in which people who believe in heaven or not are being interviewed. For instance, there was a person who compared heaven with an orgasm ("Heaven is an orgasm"), to which a non-religious couple replied : "We're going to have an orgasm that you can't even comprehend". The name of that documentary, you ask ? You'll never guess : Heaven".
